Luye Fulu TeaLuye Fulu Tea
Where to buy it
Flavour
Delicate aroma with clean sweetness
Fulu tea comes from Luye in Taitung at around 300 metres, named in 1982 by Lee Teng-hui, then provincial governor, which is why it is also called president's tea.
Taitung sits at a low latitude and runs warm, so the bushes flush many times a year and there is leaf to pick in both early spring and late winter — something no northern district can manage.
High volume spread across the seasons is the condition that later produced red oolong: taking the least valuable summer and autumn crop and making a new, heavily oxidised, heavily fired category from it. A place's climate ends up deciding what it invents.
Oxidation two, firing two. Clean and sweet in the cup.
Fair priceestimated
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$500, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$900–1,800 per 600 g. Below NT$500, ask more questions. This range is estimated from nearby regions and elevation; it has not been verified against listed prices.
What to ask when buying this
This price range is estimated from nearby regions and elevation and has not been verified, so compare for yourself.
Spring and winter lots fetch the highest prices and the best aroma; summer and autumn are a step down in both.
If they will not let you taste but want you to buy 600 g of something expensive, walk away. It is the simplest and most effective filter there is.
A scannable producer record beats any verbal assurance.
Specifications
About the origin
In Luye Township, Taitung. A wide planted area, and the most representative in the county.
These figures will be updated if they change.
Brewing
Why this temperature
Ball-rolled oolong is tightly wound, and the first pour only reaches the outside of the pellet, so it needs water close to boiling to open at all. If it does not open, the later steeps swing between thin and heavy. The first and second steeps often take the same time or less, because the leaf does not truly unfurl until the second.
Temperatures follow the official category guidance. Source: TRES — Effects of water quality and temperature on tea liquor
Common mistakes with this tea
95°C or above. Too cool and the roast aroma never opens, leaving it flat.
Rolled-ball leaf needs the first infusion to open up; the second is then shorter.
Best drunk within two months.
The most common beginner regret is buying 600 g on the first try. Buy a jin only after you know you like it.
What to eat with it
Glutinous rice clings and the sweetness lingers on the tongue. A tea with some astringency clears it away.
This one is Taiwan-only — not available overseas
Location accuracy: named locality (22.9250, 121.1450). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Taitung Tea Region3
What there is to do here
3 routes Two days possible Taimali: Jinzhenshan・Luye: Gaotai
The daylily hill at Taimali, where you drink tea looking at the Pacific. On a clear day the ridge shows you Green Island and Orchid Island. Cherry blossom in winter, fireflies in summer, hot springs at the foot of the hill.